Christian Lee Avin B.

Evaristo BSLM 1A
ETH 101 | Mr. David Floyd Roxas June 9, 2021

Summary Outline:
Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle

1. Book 1 Chapter 1
- Good was defined as something all things aim for.
- Ends was defined as the products of activities and actions.

1.2 Book 1 Chapter 7 – On Good, Ends, and Final Ends

- Good is different in every action or activity.
- There is an end for all that we do, then good is achievable by action.
- Aristotle claims that not all ends are final ends. And evidently, there is more than one
final end.
- If there is only one final end, that is what we are seeking. But if there is more than one
end, the most final is what we are seeking.
- The final end is defined as always desirable in itself and never for the sake of
something else. Additionally, it is without qualifications.

1.2.1 Book 1 Chapter 7 – Happiness, Rational Principle, and Life of Rational

Element
- We always choose happiness for itself and never for the sake of something else.
- The function of man is a life of nutrition and growth, a life of perception, and an active
life pursuing a good end.
- A rational principle is the sense of possessing, exercising, and being obedient to a
particular principle and thoughts.
- We must state that life in the sense of activity is what we mean. We state the function
of man to be a certain kind of life, and this to be an activity or actions of the soul
implying a rational principle.
2. Book 2 Chapter 1 – Virtue
- According to Aristotle, every virtue is both produced and destroyed.
- There are 2 kinds of virtue: (1) Intellectual Virtue and (2) Moral Virtue. Intellectual
Virtue owes both birth and its growth to teaching and it requires experience and time.
On the other hand, Moral Virtue comes about as a result of habit. We first acquire the
potentially and later acquire the activity itself.

2.2 Book 2 Chapter 2 – Nature of Actions

- It does not aim theoretical knowledge like others. And we must act according to the
right rule as a common principle.
- A man who flies from and fears everything and does not stand his grounds against
anything becomes a coward. We must practice virtues like temperance, courage, and
many more.
- We can be temperate by practicing to abstain from pleasures.

2.3 Book 2 Chapter 5 – Soul of Three Kinds of Virtues

- There are (1) Passion, (2) Faculties), and (3) State of Character. Passion is
accompanied by pleasure and pain. It involves appetite, anger, fear, envy, joy, and
other emulations. Faculties are virtues which we said to be the capability to feel angry,
pained, and pity and it is neither good or bad. State of Character is the virtue which we
stand well or badly with reference to the passion.

2.4 Book 2 Chapter 6 – More on Virtue

- Virtue is described not only as state of character; Every excellence brings good
condition, that of which is the excellence and makes the work of that thing be done
good.
- One’s state of character is concerned with one’ choice. And rational principle by which
the man is the man of practical wisdom.
- According to Aristotle there is no excess and deficiency in virtue. It is the perfect
condition of virtues like temperance, courage, wisdom, among many more. There is no
extreme side on either ends. There is only the golden mean.